Ester Digital

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Partner and Lead Solutions Consultant at Propeller Plan LLC. Our company provides a whole range of services in the implementation and maintenance of clients' Salesforce environments. HQ is located in Long Island City, NY. Dev hubs are present in Minsk, Belarus, and London, UK.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

We constantly have projects in our pipeline that need to be delivered for the Marketing departments. Among all the customization our team is doing in Salesforce Pardot a decent amount of work is related to UI / UX for Marketing Collateral. And since Propeller Plan does not have a strong background in Web Design, we were constantly missing the opportunity.

What were your goals for this project?

The main and only challenge we always had is the lack of solid UI / UX expertise. We were looking for a design partner to strengthen our team so that we could provide our clients with a full cycle of services.

How did you select Ester Digital?

To find a reliable partner we started by reviewing Dribbble and Clutch. Ester caught our attention with their spectacular portfolio, so we decided to assign them to one pilot project that went perfectly! As a result, we are now using services in UI / UX and Front-End implementation from Ester on all our projects.

Describe the project in detail.

Together with the Ester Digital team, we are working on landing page design and development for our clients’ marketing departments. They were involved in every stage of the project: from the design based on the clients’ requirements and style guide to the Salesforce setup.

What was the team composition?

We were working with the design team, frontend, and backend developers. Designers created mockups that corresponded with the clients’ style, frontend developer Denis turned mockups into landing pages while backend developer Roman took care of the dynamic content and web pages integration into Salesforce Pardot.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project is still ongoing so it is too early to talk about the results. But I should say that we are fully satisfied with working together.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

There were no problems with communication. They were always online and ready to answer any questions or implement any changes in the design.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It was a surprise for us that one company has such an experienced team in both web design and development. All the team members we've been working with have been talented, experienced, and very nice.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It seems to be a trick question. We are going to work together in the future so maybe one day we will find some flaws. But for now, we are more than happy with our partnership.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a marketing director at the Jaktar company. We are an aluminum boat reseller.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital, and what were your goals?

We were looking for a vendor to manage website design and development for us. As the Jaktar trademark was a newbie in the market, it was important for us to launch a website and ensure the informational presence and marketing promotion on the internet.

We wanted our website to be interactive and informative at the same time. It should be easy to use for customers and provide them with full information about our products and services.

How did you select Ester Digital and what were the deciding factors?

We were surfing Clutch to find a reliable vendor with solid experience and reputation. We were impressed by Ester’s website. After several meetings with the team, we realized that it is an agency we were looking for: creative, professional, friendly, and ready to meet all the challenges.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started with the discussion of all the details and signed a contract. At this stage, we were working closely with the business development manager. Ester follows the Agile approach, so once we agreed on the project plan, the whole scope of work was divided into several sprints, and a dedicated project manager kept us aware of all the design and development stages.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We were always in touch with our dedicated project manager. Creative art director, web designer, developer, and DevOps engineer were also involved in our project.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

As I have already mentioned, Jaktar is a new trademark. It was web design and development from scratch: we needed a website to enter the market. We are absolutely in love with our website design, its usability, and functionality. Our top priority was to make a website as informative as possible to be able to introduce our product to customers. With the help of Ester Digital, we achieved this goal.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

I should say that project coordination was brilliant. We had daily meetings where the progress was discussed, and in case some issues and questions appeared, they were fixed in no time.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Ester Digital demonstrated a great desire to understand our business needs and market specialty. The team was very friendly and professional. We enjoyed working together. Once the project was finished, they not only provided us with the complete documentation of site administration but also created a video instruction. Such a customer-centric approach is key to a successful and fruitful partnership.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We found some issues while testing the website but they all were fixed online without any problems. So it was our pleasure to work together, and we are very happy that we partnered with them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am project manager of a vaporization technology based on ceramic material and mainly applied in inhalation devices.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

We hire Ester Digital to do branding and webpage design.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have a Sci-fi style Webpage and create the branding guideline to present this new technical brand.

How did you select this vendor?

I first found them through their webpage, and we like a few of the cases that they have done before for other clients. After a few rounds of discussion with different vendors, Ester digital understood our requirements the best and the communication was very smooth and efficient. Price-value was also one of the best options.

Describe the project in detail.

We work with Alexsandr first to draft the service contract and agree with the terms. Then we worked closely with Tetiana and Iryna to have some brainstorming sessions, they help us to have a clearer view of how to position our brand and provided us with valuable inputs. Then they created the logo, a mock up of the webpage, a style guideline for us. because there are a few different parties involved from our group in this project. there were quite a few back and forward changes and modifications. Tetiana and Iryna were very patient and we were happy with the deliverable.

What was the team composition?

a customer manager, Alexandr. two senior designer, Tetiana and Iryna.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

we are happy with the deliverable. the webpage is online and the style guideline has been applied in all our promotion events and online marketing.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The work from Easter are very effective, we have regular meetings to provide feedback

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Professional, flexible and very customer oriented.

Are there any areas for improvement?

they use multiple platforms to do presentations and mock-ups, which was a bit confusing for us in the beginning. but it was no problem for our team member to coop. so it was totally fine.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a real estate marketing agency that provides services to over 40,000 professionals nationwide. I am the Vice President of Marketing and Growth.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

Our website needed a complete facelift, both on the front and backend. We also needed UX/UI experts to help us launch additional initiatives.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a new website that was easily editable by our marketing team and could integrate with our current development stack. The website had to be optimized in a way to generate as many leads and new clients as possible.

How did you select this vendor?

I searched various review sites and ran site speed tests on their own homepages to ensure vendors could execute the technical side of this project rather than just a pretty design.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They designed, developed, and provided support on both a front and backend Wordpress website. They implemented technical SEO optimizations, created custom gallery functionality, and additional custom, proprietary elements.

What was the team composition?

There were four main contacts with a very stable line of communication and understanding of everyone's roles. No matter who I talked to, I knew that our needs were being met and that work was being done proactively to ensure our site launched on time.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We are saving numerous hours a week thanks to their backend build. Our team is able to make changes on the fly without the need for a web dev team. We've also seen huge spikes in our Google rankings, lead generation, and e-commerce conversion rate.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We primarily used Slack for ongoing communications with a set weekly meeting via Uberconference to discuss any roadblocks inhibiting Ester from moving forward with the website launch. We also used Google Suite tools for content and timeline collaboration. Everything was streamlined and efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their speed and understanding of our needs and vision impressed us. They truly made the intimidating feeling of launching a website extremely easy. In addition, their designs were fantastic. I provided our vision, and with very few edits, they nailed the design.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at all. They were fantastic to work with and we continue to partner with Ester on an ongoing basis.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a project manager of an Estonian company Andres that is manufacturing and selling products made of glass. I’m responsible for our ecommerce store.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

We hired Ester Digital for updating our ecommerce store design.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal was to increase conversion rate.

How did you select this vendor?

I looked through over 100 different companies or individuals in Estonia and Ester was the only one who had the projects that I liked.

Describe the project in detail.

We had an online meeting where I explaned current problems and what I wanted to see in the end. Afterwards, we communicated over email. That was conveinient, becase the task was pretty clear and there weren’t many questions.

What was the team composition?

Sales manager and two designers.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We gained better positions in SEO because we launched mobile version (we haven’t had it before). Also, the traffic had a significant increase (more than 2x), but it was the outcome of SEO, new website, Google Ads, all together. Bounce rate was decreased by 5-7% and conversion rate increased from 1 to 1.3%.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective and conveinient. The task was clear and communication was easy. Invision App helped a lot.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As they say on their website “Time is money. We don't like wasting either. Neither do you.”, so, yes, the most impressive is that they do their work really fast and very professionally.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always something to improve but I’m struggling to clearly define what should they improve. Everything is good.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a founder of a UK-based startup - Safara. We are developing a revolutionary platform which changes the way people book hotels.

Every big booking site makes money the same way: by charging fees that are hidden in the cost of the room.

A Safara membership allows us to eliminate these fees by giving them directly back to our members. Safara was designed for frequent travelers — whether they’re traveling for business, pleasure, or both. Many of our members use work travel to earn Safara Points towards free leisure travel.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

We had a scheduled production launch for January 2020. We hired Ester Digital to help us build critical features and polish the application for production release.

What were your goals for this project?

We had a roadmap of features related to checkout and membership flows which were critical to finish before launch, as well as some UI enhancements.

How did you select this vendor?

We found Ester Digital on angel.co and conducted a series of technical interviews with their developer Alex Noel.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We scheduled a call with Alex for a quick interview to discuss high-level details and to agree with legal details. Communication was smooth, and Alex fit into the team well.

After some time to familiarize himself with the codebase, he started to improve the stability of the app by configuring tools for a reliable CI process and fixing bugs.

What was the team composition?

It was one person.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Within a few months of the project, we released our app into production. We had a major performance boost for front-end (up to 50%) and a bunch of CI tools that we still use, such as storybook, dependency tracking bots, automatic test runners, and etc.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Alex loves standardizing things in terms of workflow, which I think is a great thing to do. Our planning and the estimating process became more stable.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Smooth workflow and communication with the client.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Overall price can be a bit lower.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head of product and design at Spring Health. We provide a comprehensive mental health benefits program for employers.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

We needed a team to redesign and rebuild our marketing website.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal for the update was to be in the top 10% of industry websites. To do this, the site needed to look great on all devices, have no obvious bugs, and require minimal maintenance from our non-technical marketing team.

How did you select this vendor?

We evaluated over 25 potential candidates and interviewed around 10 of them. At the end of our consideration process, we selected Ester Digital.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We started with a highly ambitious deadline. Ester Digital needed to develop the first version of the new marketing site in time for a key company presentation, which they did. Then, we collaborated to finalize the site to meet all of our specific requirements. The final product can be easily managed by our internal marketing team.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with Alex (CTO, Ester Digital).

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

With the help of Ester Digital, we were able to launch an exceptional website in less than two weeks. We’ve seen tremendous improvement in the quality of the leads visiting our site and requesting a demo of our product. This is the single most impactful change we’ve made to our marketing website in the history of the company.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We met with Alex weekly to review our progress. If there were any urgent issues, the Ester Digital team was able to schedule a call and resolve the problem in under a day.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Ester Digital was highly efficient. They exceeded all of our expectations in terms of scheduling and deadlines. The team proactively asked for clarification on outstanding questions. Their attention to detail was very impressive, making sure they met every one of our requirements.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I genuinely can’t name a single area of weakness. I’m nothing but grateful for their high-quality work.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of Adzoola. Our web app helps digital marketers find highly relevant websites, pages, videos, and channels to reach their perfect target audience.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

I had recently released the first version of our app. While it provided digital marketers with useful data and insights, the UI was holding back its potential. Our user feedback indicated a negative perception of the appearance. I needed a team that could design a fully functional new UI that could enhance our product.

What were your goals for this project?

We set out to design a UI that worked better for our users. By improving the UX, we hoped to incur fewer unnecessary support questions. Our primary objective was to make the UI a positive aspect of our app.

How did you select this vendor?

I wanted to work with a company that offered the ideal level of design proficiency at a competitive price. I searched through several design platforms for modern work that was functional rather than conceptual. After narrowing my options to three companies, Ester Digital seemed the most professional. We discussed the services they could offer during an initial call. They seemed keenly interested in our project and enthusiastic about working together.

Describe the project in detail.

Once I selected Ester Digital, we arranged the time to map out the next steps. They contacted users right away to solicit feedback on the existing version of our app. We pinpointed specific UX issues and brainstormed strategies to resolve them. After quickly completing the wireframes, we iterated on options until we settled on a basic layout for all the pages. 

The team crafted an overarching style that dictated fonts, colors, and the general look and feel of the platform. As we progressed through the design phase, they added more details to flesh out the finalized page layouts. We finished right around the deadline.

What was the team composition?

Having a central point of contact from Ester Digital kept our project simple. They relayed my feedback to the rest of their team. I provided direct access to InVision so they could read all my comments about the design.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Ester Digital rapidly delivered the finished design within about a month.  Our app’s new look and feel has been received very well by our users. Specifically, they’ve commented on how attractive they find the appearance of the revamped UI. The hardest part of our project was translating the design into a working web app, but that was our in-house team’s responsibility rather than theirs.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I enjoyed using InVision and Zeplin. Having access to these tools let me view the progress step by step. We held regular calls to discuss roadblocks in detail and clarify our points of view.  Because meaning often gets lost over email, Ester Digital’s availability to speak on the phone proved quite useful.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Ester Digital took the time to speak with our users about their experience before even starting the new UI design. Even though this method makes perfect sense, not every company uses it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would have preferred for them to ask our permission before sharing a version of the design on their social platforms. Also, clickable prototypes would be a great addition to their design process.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Head of Marketing at Nodepower, a high-tech startup that builds a niche market of wireless energy transmission devices.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

We hired Ester Digital to redesign our logo and create guidelines to use it correctly in all channels. We needed them to design and develop our corporate site as well, including UI\UX design.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to rebuild the company's branding to highlight our sphere of business and to further communication with investors, partners, and future customers.

How did you select this vendor?

As a Latvia-based company, we were searching for design and marketing agencies only in the Baltic region. Ester Digital was the only company that met our business requirements.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Ester Digital crafted a new logo and implemented it on our business cards, exhibition stands, Facebook advertisements, and all other visual components. The website development project lasted two or three months.

What was the team composition?

My marketing team worked closely with Tetiana (Art Director, Ester Digital) and Irene (Graphic Designer, Ester Digital). We also communicated with another representative for financial questions and management issues.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We are proud of how the new logo represents us. We currently use the logo and guidelines to create new marketing materials.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was pleasant and seamless. It's nice to work with a team that always connects with you.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their team’s graphic design skills are among the best I’ve seen.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In retrospect, we realized that their price was a bit above average for the Baltic states. However, we are completely happy with our new logo and standards.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a Belarus-based video on demand (VOD) company. We cooperate with leading enterprise broadcasting companies around the world to design and develop VOD applications for TIZEN, Apple TV, and ROKU.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ester Digital?

We hired them to create a software as a service (SaaS) platform for hosting, developing, and publishing Smart TV applications.

What were your goals for this project?

With six years of positive trends in the Estonion Smart TV applications market, we were confident our product would succeed and needed a readily deployable minimum viable product to help generate initial sales immediately. The high-end solution needed to be conceptual, comprehensive, and competitive.

How did you select this vendor?

We knew our project required a full service design agency and we interviewed more than ten vendors before we met Ester Digital. They quickly grasped our intent and presented several scenarios for the build.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

The Ester Digital team and I began the development process from scratch, which was a great challenge. We completed the platform and have since published several enterprise-level apps.  

What was the team composition?

A team consisted of approximately five people.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The apps we’ve produced have proven their worth and are still in use by many companies.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their management processes were effective with weekly video calls and personal meetings. They met all deadlines and tested and documented the final products flawlessly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed with the quality of their work and the professionalism of the entire team, especially their art director.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Their pricing seemed a bit expensive, but the result was worth it.